Natalie Bruce floating face-up at the surface on the line, an over-under view of calm water and the green Tenerife coastline
Story

Natalie Bruce

US professional freediver & performance coach

The person

I started swimming at four, just outside Chicago. Underwater was where I first felt calm — long before I had a word for it. I think it was the quiet that pulled me in.

I grew up immersed in sport, studied Kinesiology and Sports Science, and built a career as a sports massage therapist in Chicago. For years the water was something I trained in — not yet something I listened to.

After several years at Chicago's pace, I moved to Thailand. In 2021, on the island of Koh Phangan, I took my first freediving course. With a background in swimming, yoga, and meditation, it felt immediately familiar — as if the pieces had quietly been leading back to the ocean.

What began as curiosity became a path. I entered my first major competition in 2023 at the CMAS Depth World Championship in Roatán, and in 2024 turned to indoor and depth freediving — becoming the first American woman past 200m in dynamic, now 257m, and rising into the top ten women in the world in two and a half years.

Natalie Bruce, US professional freediver, smiling in an Orca wetsuit on the coast after a swim
Photo: Allie Reilly
12×
Continental
17×
US National
Top 10
In the world
Career

On the record.

Vice-World Champion
2025 AIDA World Championships, Wakayama · Dynamic bi-fins, 249m
Bronze medal
2025 AIDA World Championships, Wakayama · Dynamic monofin, 257m
17×
US national records
12×
Continental records
Top 10
Women · world ranking
257m
Dynamic, monofin
See the full competition record
Natalie Bruce sitting in meditation on volcanic rock above the sea in Tenerife
@pavolivanov · Tenerife
The practice

Calm is a trained capacity.

Every session begins with breath. Not as a technique, but as a way of arriving — of meeting the water with a quieter mind than you walked in with. That's the practice. That's what I teach.

My coaching is informed by a foundation in Kinesiology, NASM personal-training certification, a sports-massage license, and Yoga Alliance training — built on years as a competitive swimmer. I bring performance science, recovery, and breathwork together, because the divers who go furthest are rarely the most forceful — they're the most settled.

"Flow isn't found. It's trained."

Natalie Bruce standing in USANA wetsuit on a quiet shoreline
@asul.lusa.films · Philippines
Natalie Bruce holding USANA freediving fins by the water
@asul.lusa.films · Philippines
Natalie Bruce resting against warm volcanic rock, Tenerife
@monalisa.fiedler · Tenerife
Natalie Bruce adjusting her goggles in an Orca wetsuit at sunrise on a rocky beach
Allie Reilly · Dominica
Portrait of Natalie Bruce in an Orca swimsuit on a rocky shoreline at dusk
@asul.lusa.films · Philippines
Natalie Bruce at the surface in the pool wearing a training cap
@srta__brown · Gran Canaria
Partners